Masks
by Frankinscence
Summary: Request fic: Dick wishing he could forget. Forget everything about the one who broke his heart. The one that kept coming back, the one who kept hurting him. The one who he wished would stop searching to get behind his mask.


**A/N: So I went to Kumoricon 2013 and there was a writing area (which was really great to have), I hung out and asked for requests, one of them was from a buddy of mine BugPhobicCanada (Impulserush on tumblr), requested that I write her some Birdflash angst. And this is what she got. I've been meaning to start writing some Young Justice fanfiction so here's the kick off to that. **

Blue eyes are very telling. When sad they storm over like rainclouds, ready to unleash the floodwaters. When happy they dance like the cool summer breeze, ready to drag you into the laughter. When tired they hang like the fog on the side of a mountain, begging to stay up one more second. The amount they show could be considered the bad thing of having those genetics.

Luckily for people like Dick Grayson, there were masks. Masks and glasses, covers of all sorts. The night was the best time of day for him. In the desolate, tattered city of Bloodhaven Dick was able to hide those blue beauties wracked by long, unrelenting, unfaltering, unforgiving pains.

Anyone could tell you that heartbreak is in the mind. Even those still suffering from it.

However, that fact, no matter how apparent, could not stop the physical reactions.

Seeing the first signs made your body tingle, the butterflies starting in that stomach and wracking throughout every conversation. Then comes the worry, the chest penetrating worry that you hadn't let yourself feel before. You worry that anything they say is a farce, a ploy. You feel them pulling away.

After a year of dating and five years of unquestionable friendship, Richard Grayson learned just how much his friendship and love meant to his supposed best friend. He learned how cruel love could be, and in one fell swoop, he learned just how a broken heart could physically heart.

Wally West was a cruel person. Not meaning to be, but cruel nonetheless. He said to Dick they needed a break, a pause, a moment away, as if it wasn't code for being dumped. Like he wasn't shattering the already cracked pieces of his heart, stomping all over them to pound him into dust.

And for what?

To raise the only glimmers of hope he had left every time he came back from _her_, only to toss him aside like a used up ragdoll when _she_ took him back into her bed once again. Over and over the cycle went, for far longer than the hero of Bloodhaven would like to have to admit.

But she won, she always won. No one would question the sudden sulk in the bird, when they had all still lived at that mountain. Megan would look at him worriedly but was easily shrugged off, Kaldur always looked like he wanted to ask but never did. One person tried, however awkwardly and mostly unhelpful, Conner.

He had found the Robin sitting in the middle of the mats at midnight, silently staring at the floor. Without a word Superboy walked over to him, sat down next to him, patted his back as gently and possible then pulled him into a side hug, staring with him. Conner knew how it felt. He could understand the feeling of betrayal and hopelessness. He hadn't moved on and didn't expect his friend to have either. Even when he warned Dick, over and over, that Wally wasn't going to last it out with him, he never said 'I told you so'. It wouldn't help.

Sometimes, Dick wished for that sting, the pain of being told he was wrong, stupid, naive for thinking it would all end with everything as it was. It didn't _really_ matter though.

Wally still ended up with _her_. His "spitfire". As if _she_ was the one meant for him. Like she was the one who would stay with him until the end, care for him in all the ways Dick could, help him in all the ways Dick could. _Love_ him in all the ways Dick could.

Sometimes, on a cold night, when the wind blew just right, and the streets of his battered city were quiet, Dick could almost hear the speedster's voice, whispering in his ear, joking, planning, flirting, as if it were just another team exercise while still so young.

It was easy to forget himself in his memories. Too easy.

That's why he is so very glad, when Wally searches for his expressive gaze as he asks for forgiveness in any form, Nightwing, has his masks.

**A/N: So there you go! My first BirdFlash!**


End file.
